Anybody have any new years' resolutions? I didn't make any. Well, I did have one but it's a bit of a carryover from last year, still a work in progress. So I guess I'm not counting that here, feel free to ask if interested though.

So I didn't ruminate over this on the first, I just spent the evening with Kel running up a cellphone bill (Autsch!) and was content. A few weeks ago though I kinda thought I should get off my duff and do something. Work out more? Well I had been planning that all along as well and it's a pretty common impetus for most blokes, so I thought why not do something else along with to make it more interested.

Possibly inspired by "30 Days," I decided to lay off junk food, completely. This is a tough one for me, living alone in the middle of town and being the buck-stopper at a family business. So it took a bit of formulation. I can't say that I've laid off all "fast food," you'll still spot me at subway of course, but I've laid off the mayonnaise and cheese with the sandwiches or any other dish, and I'm opting for water or lemonade rather than sodas. That last one was a doozy, as anybody who knows me more than five minutes has probably heard about Bawls, and I have to admit it was part of the reason that it took me a while to get into the swing of this. Even after being resolute about it a week and a half ago, I wound up going to a Wendy's all because the last time I had a burger, I didn't know it was going to be my "last" burger for a while. At least it was a good one.

So I've now been without fried red meat, sugared syrup and vein-blocking cholesterol for a week and a half. I did a half-assed two mile jog on the treadmill over the weekend but not scheduled myself for a real routine yet, the whyfors of that later*. But do I notice a difference?

Hell frigging yes! It turned real cold here in Miami right around the same time that I started this, so I'm hesitant to say which is related but if I were to put my finger on it, I'd say it was the healthier diet more than the cold weather: I am singing, right now, as well or better than I could ten years ago.

It took a few "birthing pains," in the form of massive lugies that I've hocked up a few afternoons in a row, the first of which was, horrors, bloody and runny. The following day I appeared to be healing well but the mucous was vast, with a dark blood patch in the centre that was obviously ready to come out and have a fork in it. I've coughed up a couple here and there since then, drinking massive fluids just in case it's more sickness than the dietary change, but unlike much of the time I've been sick with upper respiratory infections before, my voice is far, far clearer, I can hit all of the notes, vibrato properly, and I'll be damned if my baritone is not wider.

I could already sing better than any man, it's pretty awesome to see (hear!) yourself hitting more personal bests, or outdoing them. This is going to come in useful soon methinks.

*Earlier this evening Joy told me I looked like I was standing taller today--I sure hope so, the town house closing is tomorrow at 2PM. I need fourteen thousand dollars!